The Gym session that (nearly) killed me...

The Gym session that (nearly) killed me...

On Monday I was invited by my training partner to partake in a training session with his personal trainer. Over the last few months he has steadily improved, where I stagnated. We both do the hours on the bike, we both lost quite a bit of weight, we both are going to Gym regularly. The only differences were that he had a personal trainer with a dedicated programme and he managed 2 tough multi stage races since October where I had a moderate stage race in December. 

I was early enough to get a 2 minute warm up in before the session started. She looked friendly enough, and was quite pleasant as she took us to an unused corner in the Gym for the start of the routine. 

Very soon I realized that I was in for a fight. I was fighting the weights, I was fighting the trainer and I was fighting my partner who was obeying her instructions unquestioningly. As we worked through the routine I realized that I was in a comfort zone regarding my gym work. Here not even Chris knew what was coming next. The focus was simply to execute every instruction as well as you could. 

I put up a brave fight, but ultimately I was beaten. I had no control over the routine or the weights used. Only thing I had control over was the reps I ended up doing, but even this boiled down to a matter of pride. I couldn’t compete with my partner, but I could try to avoid total embarrassment. 

Not a moment too soon 50 minutes was up and we proceeded to the 10 minute stretching session. “Good!” I thought, at least I’ve been stretching a bit more than before and I’ve been trying to get to the odd Yoga and Pilates class. This should not hurt as much as the work-out. I was wrong again. I made a huge mental note to do some serious deep stretching more regularly, as it was apparent that I was merely scratching the surface with my attempts at stretching too. 

On Monday night, I knew I was going to be in trouble. By Tuesday morning I was walking like a constipated duck and by Wednesday (today) it felt that someone has hit me with a sledge hammer on my sternum and abs with the abs routine that I was subjected to. At least I managed to get 2 good commutes in, but at recovery ride pace. Hopefully I would have recovered sufficiently by tomorrow to be able to get up from my desk without having to focus all my attention to the task at hand. I also figured out that using the paraplegic toilets at shopping malls is a good idea when you need handles around you to get up from the toilet. Just a pity that the disabled parking bays are still off limits. 

I will have to take this week to recover and will be focussing on guiding my wife through her first Argus on Sunday, but next week I will have to face the music and devise ways to be moved out of my comfort zone. I have already acted on this resolution by entering the Knysna 1/2 marathon in July. I intend to mix up my riding a bit more with good hard tempo rides and intervals, and I am eagerly awaiting the Wednesday night rides orginised by Chris Willemse cycles that was such a hit last year. I will also have to book a series of sessions with the personal trainer to help me with my gym routine and my physio has also offered to help me with a routine for when I am working on my own in the gym.

Until then I will be sleeping in my compression pants and living on cataflams.